The Athabasca Regional Multiplex Society (ARMS) board discussed the list of repairs that need to be completed at the Nancy Appleby Theatre during its meeting May 8.
The ARMS board toured the theatre April 24 to see which of its areas were most in need of repair. At the ARMS board meeting, Multiplex manager Dustin Pysyk presented the board with a list of items he said could be fit into the Multiplex’s budget without requisitioning additional money.
These included: extending the theatre’s eavestroughs to clear water away from the front of the building more effectively; refurbishing the buildings baseboards, handrails and boot rack; fixing the countertops and light fixtures in the men’s washroom; sealing the southwest wall the building shares with the library to prevent water penetration; dry cleaning the stage’s curtains; purchasing new headsets for the theatre’s communications systems; and repairs to portable bars at the buildings main entrance.
Pysyk said repairs that need to be budgeted include: repairs to the sidewalk outside the theatre, removal of trees that are in front of the building, re-shingling the theatre’s roof; repairing or replacing the theatre’s lights; refurbishing the countertops in the theatres greenrooms; and installing a roof bulkhead.
Pysyk also addressed suggestions at previous meetings that a theatre manager be present at the theatre to supervise during all performances and practices. He said such an individual would occupy three-quarter position and make $25,000-$30,000 per year.
“Numbers are based on 150 booked days from Sept. 1, 2016, to Aug. 31, 2017, according our booking software,” he said. “If you average eight hours a day and 120 hours of maintenance time for the whole complex, the rate of pay is at $20 per hour.”
Coun. Tim Verhaeghe said he was not in favour of removing the spruce trees in front of the theatre. He also said while he liked the idea of having someone present to supervise the theatre, he was not in favour of creating a new position for that task.
“I would like to see us utilize resources that we have, and have somebody there,” he said. “But if we’re going to create a new position for that, that was not my intention.”
The Town of Athabasca’s Mayor Roger Morrill asked what had changed so much that a new hire is required to keep up with the maintenance and supervision of the theatre.
Pysyk said he felt that the Multiplex was “understaffed as a whole” and having someone to look after the theatre on a part time basis would help alleviate some of the pressure currently placed on the facility’s maintenance staff.
“We don’t have a group to tell us when there are issues,” he said. “Should it be the user group? I guess not, but we need somebody there more often than we have and I don’t know who that person is.”
Athabasca County Reeve Doris Splane said creating a repair schedule that would prioritize which items were more urgent would be a useful tool in determining what to focus time and energy on.
“Can we look at a schedule where we can say ‘this needs to be done this week’ and ‘this needs to be done this year?’” she said.
Splane then asked about whether or not $17,000 left over from a budgeted ice compressor reconditioning could be used to fix any over the larger repair items.
“Can we put that into doing some of this work? Because we’ve already budgeted that for this year,” she asked.
ARMS chair Warren Griffin said if the board said yes to those expenditures, then the money could be reallocated.
Following further discussion, Town of Athabasca interim chief administrative officer Doug Topinka suggested looking into what grant money is available that could be used to help cover some of the theatre repair costs.
The board directed Pysyk to research what programs are available to supplement the money available for the theatre’s larger repairs, and he is scheduled to report at the next ARMS meeting.
